"Made in Canada" is the closing and crowning achievement of
Bachman's latest
Merge -- the revitalized follow-up to 1993's
Any Road. Ironically, a collaboration with
Neil Young was also
Any Road's highlight, and "Made in Canada" sounds like the fully-mature follow-up to that disc's "Prairie Town."
Young's inspired, live-off-the-floor knife-slashes here (which
Bachman himself compares to "
Hendrix burning his guitar at Monterey") equal any string-bending he's done to date. The pair thunders on for eight minutes before
Young closes out with a minute of metal machine feedback.
Lyrically,
Bachman delivers his standard blue-collar, meatand-potatoes stuff -- no poetry, but charming/disarming in its honest, Prairies-perspective patriotism: "Made in Canada where the mountains touch the sky/The prairies stretch from coast to coast/And the sights can make you high/There's something different 'bout a northern sky/When the prairie thunder rolls on by." What more could you ask from a national anthem? Also up there with
Bachman's best work is the elegant "Anthem: For the Young." With it's epic,
Mott the Hoople -meets-
Procol Harum pacing, it would be interesting to hear
Ian Hunter himself tackle this one. Most of
Merge gets eclipsed by these two kicker tracks, although the whole is infinitely more inspired and fullyformed than
Any Road. "Bad News Travels Fast" and most notably "I Play the Fool for You" pay stinging tribute to
Bachman's hard rockin'
BTO salad days; unfortunately, his limited solo vocal instrument can be a sometimes wearisome companion over 60 minutes, and one longs in vain for a higher-octane Fred Turner guest appearance.
Bachman's son Tally carries on the
BTO family sideman tradition, proving himself every bit as capable as uncle
Robbie on drums throughout, and adding a Celtic accordion flavor to "Nothin's Gonna Bring You Down." ~ Roch Parisien